


A New Hobby

by gracefulally



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-03
Updated: 2006-07-03
Packaged: 2017-10-21 05:56:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/221687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracefulally/pseuds/gracefulally
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU BtVS/AtS crossover during "Dead End." While onstage at Caritas, Lindsey spots a pretty girl amongst the crowd. Lorne sends Lindsey chasing after her when she slips out the door. Lindsey has to fight (read: get his ass kicked by) a vamp to save her. It’s a match made in pummeled-lawyer and bashful-damsel heaven. Thanks, Lorne.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Hobby

The pretty little thing with long blonde hair and eyes that would stop an old man's heart was the first thing to catch my attention in this varied crowd of virtually all-demon patrons. I had been casting her fleeting glances since I’d caught sight of her when I first took to the stage tonight at Caritas. As I pulled back to strum my way through the bridge, I locked her shy eyes with mine and quirked a lopsided smirk at her. She bashfully dipped her face when she realized I wasn’t going to look away this time which did nothing to discourage my desire to trail my drunken behind over to the bar to order that lady a drink once I was off this stage.

I only closed my eyes for a moment as I belted out the held note of the final chorus and slammed that pick across the guitar strings with as much passion as I could manage through this new hand of mine. When I stepped away from the mike, the bar filled with raucous spatters of applause and whooping cheers. I sheepishly grinned and bowed by head before lifting off the guitar strap as I exited the stage to mingle amongst the rest of the bar.

Peeking toward the blonde, I frowned in disappointment to see that she was gone and a demon with bright yellow and tan boil-covered skin had taken her place. It was then that I spotted Lorne making his way toward me. I felt my cheeks color a little when I realized that he was wiping tears from his eyes.

“You’re gonna make a man’s head swell if you start cryin’ every time I go on,” I rumbled with a bit of an amused smirk as I waved down the bartender for a shot of whiskey, not sure which number this was for the night as I’d lost count when a much-too tipsy Noslar demon had started buying rounds of sort of lime-flavored concoction for the house. Or at least I thought it had been lime. Could have been something from another dimension for all I knew.

Lorne rested a hand on my shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. “Pumpkin, if your head swelled anymore we could put you on tour with the Darnum and Dalely Brothers as the human Hindenburg.”

Snickering, I squinted at him in confusion. “You’ve had one too many of those damn girly Seabreezes tonight. I think you meant Barnum and Bailey,” I corrected as I took up my shot of Jack.

That sort of pompous look passed over the green boy’s face and I knew he was happy to have caught me in a moment of my human ignorance. “Even the demon world has its fair share of the—shall we say—‘carnie’ types, sugar puss.”

“Right, well carnies or no carnies,” I did have a way of changing subjects in a less-than subtle fashion, “you didn’t happen to notice the cute little blonde in the back there while I was singing, didya?” The burn of the whiskey stung straight down to my belly but it was a welcome burn and was certainly less intense now I already had a few in me.

Lorne smiled knowingly into his drink. “I’d thought you’d never ask,” he mumbled before he took a sip.

“Hey!” I retorted loudly before slapping the shot glass down and raising an accusing finger to him. “Stay outta my head! I told you, no readin’ me unless I want you to.”

The curling smile on his face dared me to wipe it off. “Your aura’s crooning a lovesick tune loud enough on its own, blue eyes.” His eyes sparkled with humor at my moody pout. “Think of it this way: Your lips deny it’s true,” he slipped into a bit of a sing-song banter, “but in your eyes, your eyes, your eyes, your eyes, I read such strange things...”

I was fairly certain _my_ eyes rolled all the way back to gape at my brain in agitation at the backwards quoting of the lyrics. A song I had just hammered out for a karaoke barely a week ago no less. “Just tell me where she went, all right?” I finally demanded with a sigh.

“Slipped her cute little cheeks right out the door when you finished,” Lorne said with a little smile before he clapped my shoulder once more. “Go chase her down, sunshine. You're certainly one for those Gable and Bogie moments.”

"I'd prefer Gary Cooper," I corrected but he was already walking away and simply waved me off as he sipped his drink once more. Though I smirked in amusement, my head was shaking in annoyance at being mocked. Asshole.

The dank night air hit my face when I stepped outside. I swore under my breath when I glanced around at the empty lot before me. Damn it, where had she gone? Lorne better not have sent me on some damn wild-goose chase, I was in no mood. Then I saw a flutter of movement out of the corner of my eye.

I scowled darkly when I finally spotted her all but hidden in the shadows of the building. Some shithead had her up against the old brick wall of the bar and it didn’t look like it was the place she wanted to be. My jaw set as I approached them. This guy had a few inches on me, not that I'd ever admit to another’s height getting me down, but I was silently hoping he was at least a crap punch. I really wasn’t looking forward to having to explain away _another_ busted lip and black eye at work in the morning.

That caution was tossed away and there was a flutter of panic in my chest when his face shifted to be a little less human. My paced sped up to be a half-jog, or a feigned drunken one anyway. “Hey!” I snapped to get his attention as I stomped up to Tall-and-Snarling. I was concerned for the girl, she did look terrified but I surprised that she hadn’t even screamed—I had to remind myself that she did just willingly mingle with a group of scary-looking demons.

“You’re fuckin’ crazy if you think this an all-you-can-eat Sizzler!” I spat as I knocked her attacker back with rough two-handed shove, causing us both to stumble as we fought to find our balance once more. The vamp hissed and I chuckled when he sprang back to grab me up by the front of my favorite blue dress shirt that I had a feeling was going to see its last moments pretty soon. “’Sides, didn’t your mama ever tell you that eatin’ the strawberry pie first’ll ruin your supper?”

There was a sickening crack when my wide shoulders and thick head collided with the stone of the building’s wall. Dazed with ears ringing and vision spinning, I dropped to a heap on the ground, but I wasn’t down for long. I couldn’t let him take her. I wasn’t going to let another one slip through the cracks because of my own damn hesitation.

Putting a steady hand to the chipped face of the brick, I started to drag my heavy ass up. It was then I noticed the smell. Coughing and sputtering, I gagged over the putrid scent of rotting filth. The smack to my head must have plugged my nose for a moment because it would have been impossible for me to ignore that rank fragrance of garbage, likely made worse by whatever crap Lorne served to the non-humans here.

The girl’s shout of fright was all I needed to get the adrenaline pumping again. I had landed on a slick pile of rotting cardboard next to stack of slatted wooden crates. The sight was enough to bring a little smile to my face.

“Thanks, Green,” I chuckled under my breath before I swung a boot into the nearest crate which did little but shudder and groan as it deflected my blow. Growling at the hollow pain in my shin, I gritted my teeth and smashed my foot into it twice more before relief washed over me as the wood gave way to snap and splinter into pieces.

Reaching down, I grabbed the strongest looking shard and rounded to the girl’s cry with one of my patented 'This is what a pissed cowboy looks like' glares. The tiny blonde had started to run from the fight, but she hadn’t gotten far before the vamp caught up to her. Already on my way to them, I saw the bastard grab an arm. Her hair gave a harsh whip as he yanked her back before tossing her up against the wall once more. The scene sickened me. He was toying with her. They always liked to hear the pretty ones scream.

My staggering run started out slow, but I quickly built up momentum and speed. Blindly diving for the creep was probably not the wisest choice I’d ever made, but hey, I’d sure done dumber shit in my life. I’d deal. I also knew this fall was going to hurt the moment my collar bone hit his solid shoulder, but I wrapped him in a teeth-jarring tackle anyway.

We hit the littered ground hard, snarling and snapping at each other like wounded mutts as we each wrestled for the upper-hand. My back slid across the pavement and bits of rock and other shit beneath me were dragged viciously into my shirt and flesh leaving bothersome welts and scrapes in their wake.

He was soon on top of me, stranding my middle and pinning my lower half with his strong legs. I could taste the salt and iron of my bleeding lip and his nose was at an angle it shouldn’t be, even in his game face. I held the stake up between us and that kept his teeth at bay. I wanted to thrust it into the fucker’s chest, but try as I might, I couldn’t push up through his superior and damn near bone-mashing grip. I growled and swore my way up and down the alphabet as he pushed my tightened fists further into my already angry and strained lungs, but I still managed to hold him off.

My teeth clenched until I could feel the dull ring of the protesting bone start to shake my jaw. The vamp hissed in frustration and my face contorted in my stubborn rage. I had to make it just a little longer. Let her get away. I didn’t care if he killed me. I already knew I would be drank dry by one of these bastards eventually. Now was a little earlier than expected, but damned if I cared about my future at the moment. I just wanted her to get away, to be safe.

The pasty unwashed lughead on top of me got impatient in our rigid standoff and reached up a cold clammy hand to squeeze around my throat. Though I could no longer breathe and I felt his pressure starting to collapse and bruise my throat, the moment of decreased leverage on my fists was just enough that I could finally slam the stake up and back in an arc to its rightful home in the dipshit’s heart. My body rocked forward in its sudden release from the crushing restraints as they exploded into nothing but crackling ash around me. I wheezed and coughed when the heavy night air found my lungs again.

For the first several seconds I couldn’t even move. Everything hurt too damn much. My eyes squeezed shut in a grimace. I really needed a new hobby. Maybe something a bit less emasculating than determining which surface was best for face-planting during a fight with a demon.

Groaning through my drunken pain, I pushed myself back to my feet and teetered a bit once I found them beneath me. Throwing the broken length of wood against a nearby parking stop—that I was glad I hadn’t landed on—with a grunt, I spat to the ground in disgust. I had fang-head dust in my sinuses and it was anything but tasty.

Glancing blearily around, I saw that the girl was still there and she looked to have stapled herself to that wall the creep had thrown her against just a couple minutes prior. Goddamnit, she was supposed to have _ran_ , to have gotten away. That was how this hero show worked. Thought she’d known that if she was so willing to waltz through these locals like blue skin didn’t bother her none. I staggered my way to her as I tried to stop the world from pitching through the fun little amusement-ride spin it was doing.

“Did he hurt you?” I panted in concern, touching a gentle hand to the throbbing ache at the back of my skull. Piece of shit had damn near knocked me out in one hit. I never did like those snarling teeth when they were trying to kill me. Always came up with a few unwanted bruises and sometimes a gushing wound or three afterward.

The blonde shook her head furiously, making her long locks toss around her. “I-I’m fine,” she stammered when she finally peeled herself from the wall. Her body was shivering and I had a feeling it wasn’t from the _chilling_ mid-seventies weather of this musty California night.

“Come on,” my breathing had regained some normalcy and I could see straight again by the time I offered her a hand, “I’ll walk you home.”

Her eyes widened and swore I saw a hint of timid panic and doubt there. She was damned spooked, that was for sure. “Oh, that’s okay. Really. You don’t need to do that.” The stammering was only made more worrisome by her taking a tentative step in retreat as she played at her long honey blonde hair. “You’ve done more than enough already,” she added before she started to turn.

“No,” I said firmly and my hand shot out to lightly grip her wrist in protest, which probably wouldn’t have happened under more sober conditions. “You can cuss and damn me all you want later, but I am not letting you walk away from here alone. Not after what just happened.”

Her body had tensed fearfully and I was certain a little wince of pain passed over her face the moment I touched her wrist, but I was glad that she didn’t immediately try to pull away. “O-Okay,” she replied quietly after a moment of awkward silence. Her cheeks colored faintly as she nervously tugged at the flap of her jean jacket. She sure was a gorgeous little thing, but damn, was I ever drunk and certainly didn’t trust myself to be respectable around her right about now.

My hand moved from her wrist to wrap her still trembling fingers in my own. My mouth curled into a warm grin and I gave those long fingers a reassuring squeeze. “I’m Lindsey, by the way.”

Bashful heavy lids fell over those dazzling blue eyes as she gave me the tiniest of smiles that still looked amazing on those full lips of hers. “Tara,” she replied softly.

Pretty name, Tara. I shook my head in an apology that I knew I didn’t need to give and it might have just been the whiskey talking, but I still felt like I had to say something. I would have given anything right now for this crossing of paths to have started out on a different foot. “Sorry we had to meet like this, Tara.”

My eyes glanced around us to make sure nothing else was having ideas about jumping the sweet girl and her drunken savior tonight. I rested my hand to the small of her back to keep her close, to keep her protected, as we walked. I was too drunk to drive. I’d have to come back for my truck later, once I was sure Tara was safe. Lorne would make sure someone watched my guitar. Well, he _better_ watch my baby anyway, lest I have to open up a can on his pointy avocado ass the next time I saw him outside of that bar.

Letting out a sigh, I cracked a half-smile at Tara. “All right, darlin’, let’s get you home.”


End file.
